Oops!

Earlier this week, Hudson Valley Post published an article about Mel the Bakery and its nomination for a James Beard Award: "Brand-New Upstate New York Eatery Nominated for Best in America." 

Bizarrely, the article is accompanied by several pictures of this house on Columbia Street, once the home of the late Estocia Berry . . . 

instead of the bakery's actual location at 324 Warren Street, with its entrance from the PARC Park next door.

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The Plans for HHA's Redevelopment

Later today, the Common Council holds a special meeting to decide if it will support an application for Restore New York funding for the Hudson Housing Authority's redevelopment plans. So far, the public has gotten very little information about what's being proposed, except that the project will more than double the number of dwelling units managed by HHA, build on three parcels currently owned by Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency, close one block of State Street to vehicular traffic and extend First Street for a block, and cost $220 million. No information has been provided about what the buildings will look like, although the public is assured they will "fit it" with the historic architecture of Hudson and "mitigate the stigma of affordable housing."

Recently, Gossips acquired copies of the master plans for the project, which are shared below. They seem to involve not only extending First Street from Columbia to State but also reinstating Lombard Street, which doesn't exist today. (Click on the images below to enlarge.)

Today's special Common Council meeting happens at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

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Of Interest

Over the years, Gossips chronicled the fate of the building that once stood at 211 Warren and the evolution of its replacement as the events were happening.

Today, Chronogram retells the story in the article with a subtitle that is completely false: "Warren Street Redux: A Historic Home Gets a Renewable Renovation."

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Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

The week begins with Earth Day. The theme for Earth Day this year is "Planet vs. Plastics," which seems appropriate on a day when half the city's trash gets bundled up and carted off in blue plastic bags. After that auspicious beginning, here's what is happening this week.

• On Monday, April 22, the Stuyvesant Town Planning Board continues its review of the agritourism project proposed for Sharptown Ridge. It is expected the Planning Board will resume its consideration of Part II of the Short Environmental Assessment Form. The meeting takes place in person only at 7:00 p.m. at Stuyvesant Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive, in Stuyvesant. 
• On Tuesday, April 23, the Common Council ad hoc Parking Study Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. No agenda has been provided for the meeting, but it is expected the committee will hear presentations from one or more companies that can provide the needed equipment for upgrading the city's parking meter system. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

• On Wednesday, April 24, the Common Council holds a special meeting to vote on whether or not to support the Hudson Housing Authority's application for a Restore New York grant for its redevelopment project. The maximum they can get in Restore NY funds in $2 million. The project being proposed is estimated to cost $220 million. Also on the agenda for the special meeting is a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract for "falling weight deflectometer testing services," to determine if our streets can bear the weight of the trucks that pass through our city daily. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely. 

• On Thursday, April 25, Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency meets at 4:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the click to join the meeting remotely.

Update: The HCDPA meeting has been canceled.

• Also on Thursday, April 25, the Public Works Board, the group tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Sidewalk Improvement District legislation, meets at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely. 

• Also at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 25, the History Room at the Hudson Area Library, in collaboration with the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, presents "A French Fabulist in Leisler's New York," a talk by Owen Stanwood about the Canadian explorer and raconteur Mathieu Sagean, whose fabulous tales of the New World intrigued the elites of Europe. The event takes place in person in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street. For more information, click here.

• On Friday, April 26, the Historic Preservation Commission holds its second meeting of the month at 10:00 a.m. The meeting includes a public hearing on a proposal to construct an asymmetrical, curved stoop at 442½ Warren Street. The building is one of three identical buildings, and the proposed stoop would be a departure from the straight stoops on the buildings at either side. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

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Opening This Weekend

An exhibition of the work of Tony Thompson opens tomorrow, Saturday, April 20, at the Lockwood Gallery, 747 Route 28 in Kingston.  

The exhibition is a celebration of Thompson's life and work. An opening reception takes place tomorrow from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow Is the Day!

It's a sure sign that spring has come when the Hudson Farmers' Market returns to its outdoor location at Sixth and Columbia streets, and that is happening tomorrow! The market will be open in its old, familiar location from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. 

As if the opening of the outdoor market in itself wasn't enough, the folks at HFM have shared this news:

We will have a film crew on location starting at/around 10:00 a.m.! There will be a dozen or so people, their equipment, and signage throughout the lot. We want you to be aware of your surroundings for personal safety, ESPECIALLY if you're coming with your pups. If you would NOT like to appear in the background of their scenes, please move away from where they are filming and they will follow up with respecting those boundaries.

We can't spill any secrets, so don't ask! You will just have to COME TO MARKET to see who it is and what they will be doing. We are excited to host them and have them meet our amazing community.

Schedule your visit to the market to be there when the film crew is there or to avoid them, but by all means plan to be at the market tomorrow to buy your week's provisions, catch up with friends, and enjoy the sense of community that is Hudson.

The Future of the Shacks

At the Common Council meeting on Tuesday, the Council approved the proposal to hire Hudson Cultural Services "to prepare and implement a mitigation plan that documents the structures and history of The Shacks, installs at least one interpretative panel at the site and/or develops an exhibit to be displayed locally, and continues to study the feasibility of retaining at least one of the historic structures for use as part of the proposed park." 

Shacks being demolished on January 3, 2024

Introducing the resolution authorizing this action, Council president Tom DePietro referred to the historic fishing village as the "red-headed stepchild" of DRI projects, implying that it was neglected or perhaps even unwanted. Before the Council voted on the resolution, Councilmember Margaret Morris (First Ward) asked how the resolution had come about. It seems a valid question given that Hudson Cultural Services appears to have been hired to do an alternatives analysis, which was then submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office, without the Council's involvement or knowledge. Why was the Council to be involved at this point when it hadn't been involved before? 

As usual, the small amount of money--$150,000--allocated for the project was offered as an explanation of why the project hadn't been pursued in a timely fashion. Councilmember Jennifer Belton (Fourth Ward) suggested that some of the work involved in the project could be carried out by volunteers. In the past, when the use of volunteers has been suggested, the idea was dismissed because a study done in August 2015 found asbestos and lead paint present in most of the shacks. (That study can be found here.) It's not clear what Belton was suggesting volunteers might do, but the demolition of shacks containing hazardous materials, particularly asbestos, requires a crew trained to deal with such materials. According to Rob Perry, the four shacks that were demolished in January were the only ones that did not contain hazardous materials and hence could be demolished by the Department of Public Works.

Community member Ronald Kopnicki asked if there had been a committee involved in making decisions about how to proceed with the Shacks. He was told that it is not in the plan to have a committee and decisions had been made by the mayor and LaBella. (Chazen Companies, the original consultants on the DRI projects, was purchased by LaBella in 2021.) DePietro explained they had decided not to spend the consultants' time in meetings, adding that involving the consultants in public meetings was "just sucking money from the project funding."

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HHA and Restore NY

Last night, at the Common Council meeting, the folks from the Hudson Housing Authority (HHA)--Revonda Smith, chair of the HHA Board of Commissioners; Jeffrey Dodson, HHA executive director; and Eu Ting-Zambuto and John Madeo from Mountco, HHA's development partner--made their pitch for the Council's support of their application for Restore New York funding. But before that happened, Council president Tom DePietro read aloud a communication from the other project that had been seeking Restore NY funding: Lil' Deb's Oasis, which is planning to redevelop the former TJ Auto Service Center building at 735-737 Columbia Street as its new location. The first paragraph of the message, from someone identified only as Halo, follows:

I am writing to let you know that after much thought, we have decided to no longer pursue Restore New York funding for this round. Competing with the Hudson Housing Authority's Bliss Towers project feels spiritually and culturally misaligned with our core values. Our hope is that by pulling out, this important project may have increased visibility and more opportunity to advance in the Restore funding process.

In the presentation of the HHA project made to the Council, it was clarified that the mixed income intended for the project is from 15 to 80 percent of the area median income (AMI). What was not clarified is how many units are being proposed. The number previously cited was 300, but last night 148 was given as the number of units in Phase 1 and 186 as the number of units in Phase 2. That adds up to a total of 334. 

The presentation also gave some insight into why the project is expected to cost $220 million, or about $733,334 per unit. The plans call for geothermal heating and cooling and subsurface parking.

In promoting the project, it was argued that the increase in lower income households would benefit the community. It would enable businesses to hire locally. It was also maintained that the design of the new buildings, which thus far no one has seen, would "mitigate the stigma of affordable housing." The courtyard being planned for the new development, which apparently will be open to everyone, is claimed will be "as big as Seventh Street Park." That seems an overstatement.

When Ting-Zambuto first told the HHA Board of Commissioners that they were seeking Restore NY Funding, Nick Zachos, who sits on the board, asked if there was a history of housing authorities getting money through Restore NY. Ting-Zambuto claimed there was an affordable housing component, but Madeo admitted he was unaware of any housing authority getting Restore NY funding. Wondering about the appropriateness of Restore NY funding for this project, Gossips decided explore the guidelines for Restore NY funding. The following is quoted from the Program Description and Goals:

The 2023-24 State Budget provided new funding for the Restore New York Communities Initiative and gave Empire State Development the responsibility of implementing this program for the sole purpose of revitalizing urban and rural areas, disadvantaged communities, and stabilizing neighborhoods. 

Municipalities, defined as counties, cities, towns, and villages, are invited to submit a Request for Funding Proposal for projects to demolish, deconstruct, rehabilitate and/or reconstruct vacant, abandoned, condemned, and/or surplus properties. . . . 

Projects should be architecturally consistent with nearby and adjacent properties or in a manner consistent with the municipality’s local revitalization or urban development plan. . . .

An important goal of Restore NY is to revitalize urban centers, rural areas, and disadvantaged communities. It is anticipated that upon completion, the projects funded by Restore NY grants will attract individuals, families, and industry and commercial enterprises to the municipality. It is further anticipated that the improved community and business climate will result in an increased tax base thereby improving municipal finances and the wherewithal to further grow the municipality’s tax and resource base, lessening its dependence on state aid.

It should be noted that at this point there is no concrete evidence that the proposed project will be "architecturally consistent with nearby and adjacent properties or in a manner consistent with the municipality's local revitalization or urban development plan."

What might be the most interesting bit of information provided about Restore NY process is this:

If a Municipality is intending to apply for Restore NY funding, a letter of intent must be submitted by the leading municipal official no later than 5:00 PM on March 25, 2024. 

This information suggests that the letter of intent was submitted by Mayor Kamal Johnson, independent of the Common Council. Last year, the Common Council has asked to choose between the Pocketbook Factory and the Kaz redevelopment in January. This year, the Common Council's support is being sought just a month before the application deadline on May 22. 

In the discussion following the presentation at Tuesday's meeting, Councilmember Margaret Morris questioned the wisdom of "bringing that number of people to a place that doesn't have many employment opportunities and no public transportation." Responding to this, Johnson asserted that "the hospital and the school district have a large number of openings." Last week, Michele Pierro cited employees of the school district as potential tenants for the market rate apartments proposed for Fairview Avenue.

According to one source, the AMI for Columbia County, which is the measure used by HUD, is $76,515. Eighty percent of $76,515 is $61,212. SeethroughNY publishes the salaries of 201 employees of the Hudson City School District in 2023. They range from $57,001 to $191,880. Only 18 are paid less than $61,212, and 50 are paid more than $100,000. 

A special meeting of the Common Council has been scheduled for Wednesday, April 24, to vote on whether or not to support HHA's application for Restore NY funding.

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